At Loyola, students from all walks of life and athletic skill levels can compete against each other through intramural sports.

Intramurals, sponsored by Loyola Campus Recreation, take place throughout the school year and are available to all Loyola students. Registration is scheduled to open during the first week of classes with cornhole, flag football, 6-on-6 soccer and 4-on-4 sand volleyball offered during the fall season.

These sports will be played on the newly renovated grass field on the Loyola west quad, which will replace Sean Earle Field this year due to the construction of the Alfie Norville Practice Facility.

Megan Morris, director of Campus Recreation, said intramurals are an opportunity for both returning and incoming Loyola students to play a series of different sports and games and be a part of a team.

“Overall, [intramurals are] a great way to get active and get involved here at Loyola, as it’s free of charge and is a very small time commitment in the grand scheme of things,” Morris said. “All of our initial offerings will be played on the west quad which is currently roped off but will be up and ready come the first week of classes.”

Campus Recreation also provides students the chance to play a sport competitively on a team through their sponsored club sports at Loyola. With 25 sports in total, including basketball, baseball and volleyball, club sports are seen as a larger time commitment than intramurals with more practices and games. Morris said most intramurals are weekly events and are seen as less of a responsibility than club sports.

With intramurals available to play year round, such as 3-on-3 basketball, 6-on-6 volleyball, dodgeball, badminton and cornhole, Morris said the registration process is continuous.

“Intramurals are pretty easy to stay involved in year-round, we have registration for different sports on a rolling basis meaning it goes season by season,” Morris said.

Getting involved in campus intramurals is a simple process, according to Morris.

“The most efficient way to sign up is just by using the Loyola Campus Recreation website” Morris said. “There, students can submit a roster or just an application as a single participant.

Morris also said that campus intramurals are meant for everyone to play; it doesn’t matter if a student has played a sport in the past or not.

“A huge reason students should get involved is it’s free here on campus and anyone can join and be a member of campus intramurals, regardless of skill level or experience,” Morris said. “It’s easy to do and it’s a very small time commitment in comparison to everything else here on campus.”

The Loyola Campus Recreation office posted high numbers of participation last year.The class of 2021 reported a 20 percent participation rate in intramurals out of more than 2,600 new undergraduate students — the highest ever among a first-year class.

Outside of the first-years, the campus recreation department reported 1,500 of Loyola’s 10,294 undergraduates participated in intramurals during the 2017-18 school year.

Going into the 2018-19 school year, Morris said she hopes to reach even higher numbers and get more students involved and said few students will regret their decision to get involved.

“Over the years, I’ve had very few — if any — students say they’ve regretted playing intramurals and spending time with campus recreation,” Morris said.